7. CHAPTER SEVEN #2
He closes the passenger door and follows me across the street.
The guy on the porch recognizes Rowan before he recognizes me. “Laurens?”
Rowan lifts a hand. “Hey, man. What’s up?”
The guy looks genuinely surprised to see him, which makes me glance over.
“Do you ever leave Hawthorne? You poor thing.” I stick out my bottom lip.
He glances at my lip. “I go places.”
I drop the act. “Name one.”
“Classes.”
I laugh. “You’re so dumb.”
He holds the door for me. “I’m actually really smart.”
“Right,” I say, smirking.
We go inside.
The party isn’t huge. Maybe thirty people spread through the living room and kitchen, with beer pong set up in what should probably be a dining room.
Drew sees us almost immediately.
His face changes. “Laurens?”
Rowan points at me. “Her fault.”
I laugh. “Happy birthday, Drew.”
Drew comes over and gives me a quick one-arm hug. “Thanks. Reeve’s—” He stops himself. “Gianna. Sorry.”
I smile. “You got there.”
He looks relieved.
Rowan takes my coat when I shrug it off, folds it over his arm with his own, and hands both to Drew when he points toward a bedroom where everyone is dumping things.
“I’m driving,” I tell Drew when he offers me something from the kitchen.
Drew says, “Water?”
I nod. “Perfect.”
Rowan takes one too.
I look at Rowan. “You don’t have to be sober because I am.”
“I know.” He twists the cap off the bottle and chugs it, watching me. I watch the water bubble out of the plastic and his throat bobs.
I open mine and drink, too.
We’re both staring at each other, drinking the entire bottle of water.
He finishes first and wipes his mouth. Then he tilts his head, waiting for me to finish.
Mara finds us and interrupts the moment. She flies through the kitchen and wraps both arms around me. “You came!”
“You texted me six times.”
She pulls back and looks over my shoulder.
Her eyes widen slightly when she notices Rowan. “You brought him.”
“He was helping me with my project when you called, so yeah.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not helping her.”
Mara looks at him and then at me. “Okay,” she says. “Whatever, nerds.” She looks at my water bottle. “Dance with me?”
“Obviously.”
The living room furniture has been shoved against the walls, leaving a space in the middle where enough people are moving around that it counts. The sun is finally out of sight and the lights are low. I lose track of Rowan for a while.
Theo shows up at some point, and I watch him shake Rowan’s hand. Two other guys from the team join them. Rowan settles against the wall with his water bottle in one hand.
I dance with Mara. Then Mila gets there. Then Drew’s roommate changes the music, and the whole room screams because apparently everyone our age has the exact same relationship with songs from middle school.
Every once in a while, I look toward the kitchen. Rowan is usually still there. Once, he’s already looking at me. I lift my brows at him. He lifts his water bottle an inch. I turn back to Mara.
Later, I go to get another bottle of water and find Rowan standing alone beside the counter while Drew and Theo fight about hockey sticks.
“How miserable are you?” I ask, reaching for a water.
He looks at me. “I’m fine.”
I lean against the counter beside him.
His shoulder almost touches mine.
I ask, “Are you having fun?”
“Yeah.”
I look up suspiciously.
He notices. “What?”
I shrug. “That sounded sincere.”
“It was. You invited me somewhere. I came. It’s fine.”
“Wow. Put that on Drew’s birthday card, will you?”
He smiles down at the water bottle.
I take a drink.
“You know what I heard in Minnesota?”
His eyes come back to me. “What?”
I turn slightly toward him. “During warmups, this guy behind the bench spent like three straight minutes yelling at Percy.”
He teases, “That narrows it down.”
“No, specifically Percy. He goes, ‘Deveroux, your mustache makes you look like a substitute teacher.’” I use a deep voice.
Rowan laughs. Not the quiet little breath he normally does. An actual laugh.
I grin immediately. “And Percy heard him.”
“He did?”
I nod. “He looked over and flipped him off.”
Rowan laughs again.
“Then the guy yelled, ‘Don’t look at me, subby boy, I didn’t do the homework.’” I chuckle. “Percy ignored him, and the guy kept yelling, ‘Hey subby, subby, subby, hey.’”
Rowan laughs. “That’s actually pretty good.”
I’m laughing harder because he is.
“I’m telling Percy you think he looks like a substitute teacher,” he says.
“Don’t you dare,” I scoff mid-laugh.
“I’m putting it in the group chat.”
I reach for his arm. “Rowan.”
He pulls his phone out.
I grab his wrist. “No.”
His thumb is already moving. “Give me one reason.”
“Because I’m the one who heard it, and Percy will know.”
I try to take the phone.
Rowan moves it above my head.
I stare at him. “You did not.”
He looks down at me, completely calm. “Didn’t what?”
“You’re being tall on purpose.”
He bends his knees. “Does that help?”
I reach again.
He stands back up and lifts it higher.
I put my hand against his chest to shove him back.
He doesn’t move. He looks down at my hand.
I look down too.
For half a second, neither of us does anything. Then I pull away.
Rowan’s eyes come back to mine. Something changes. Not enough that I could explain it. Enough that I stop laughing.
His phone is still in his hand, forgotten now.
I clear my throat. “You’re annoying.”
“Yeah.”
His voice sounds different. Or I’m making things up. I don’t know. I take another drink of water.
Behind us, somebody starts singing Happy Birthday to Drew twenty minutes too early, and half the room joins in anyway.
I turn toward the noise. Rowan stays beside me. We sing along.
As soon as the singing’s over, Mara comes over and drags me back toward the living room.
The next song is one of my favorites.
I point at Rowan before I go. “You better not text Percy.”
He puts his phone into his pocket. “No promises.”
I dance.
Rowan doesn’t. Which is probably for the best.
He watches for a while from the edge of the room, talking to Drew when Drew wanders back over, and every time I catch him looking, he doesn’t immediately look away. That starts becoming a problem.
By the time the song ends, I’m warm enough that I need more water. I leave Mara with Mila and go back toward the kitchen.
Rowan is exactly where I left him. “You really stood here through the whole song?”
“I moved.”
“Where?”
He points about three feet to his right.
I laugh. “Wild.”
“It was crowded.”
“You’re boring, Laurens.”
“Yeah.”
I step in front of him and steal his bottle because mine is empty.
He watches me take a drink from it. His mouth shifts. Heat runs straight up my neck.
I hand it back.
“Thirsty?” he asks.
“Stop.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s the problem.”
His eyebrows lift slightly.
I realize how that sounded approximately one second too late.
Rowan looks at me.
I look at him.
Then I shove his shoulder. Hard enough that he rocks back maybe half an inch.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
A slow smile spreads across his face. “I’m not doing anything, G.”
“You are.”
“What am I doing?”
“I don’t know.”
He laughs.
I push him again. “Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Exactly.”
That only makes him laugh harder.
And because I have apparently lost control of every useful part of my personality, I start laughing too.